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Communities' secretary, Hazel Blears, has announced that small shops are to be given some protection against competition from out-of-town supermarkets. She added that this would help independent shops survive the credit crunch.
Planning guidance is also to be changed to help prevent more "clone towns". In future new shops will have to pass a "diversity" test to ensure that not all high streets look the same. Planners will be able to reject applications for large-scale, out-of-town shopping developments if they are likely to have a damaging impact on nearby high streets.
The Government will formally respond to the commission's recommendations, including the competition test proposal, in the next few weeks.
Ms Blears' comments come as Waitrose this week confirmed its intentions to enter the convenience store sector. The plans follow the launch earlier this year of Waitrose's market-town stores, which are typically sized about 13,000 sq ft and offer a higher proportion of fresh food and locally sourced produce. Since May, stores have opened in Cambridgeshire, Buckingham, Buckinghamshire, and most recently, Northamptonshire.
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